7 in the 9th addendum
not one but two "roger freed games"?
so informs brian gunn of hardball times and redbird nation fame. in a comment to my previous post, he writes:
"It's my understanding that this game -- in which Freed hit a two-out, extra-inning grand slam (on a 3-2 pitch, no less) -- is what is commonly known as 'the Roger Freed game.' Odd that one guy had two similar moments in one very brief career."
sure enough, it happened at busch against the astros on may 1 1979. silvio martinez squared off against jr richard and outpitched the sunuvagun, took a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning before tiring and losing the lead with two outs in the eighth. (check out the play-by-play at retrosheet and compare how ken boyer managed his bullpen in the 8th vs the way managers run games today. . . . .) the teams played into the 11th deadlocked 3-3; houston got to tom bruno for three in the top of the frame and entrusted the lead to joe sambito, he of the 1.23 era (he would finish the year at 1.77 with 22 saves). the cards didn’t exactly beat sambito to a pulp: tony scott legged out an infield hit, reitz fanned, then oberkfell walked, as did steve swisher (who’d entered the game on a double-switch). that turned over the lineup and brought up templeton, who entered the game hitting .302 but with only 3 rbis; he whiffed for the second out.
jerry mumphrey was due next, but boyer called him back and sent up freed. roger had finished the magical ’77 season at .398 but reverted to joe-lis form in ’78, batting just .239 in 92 at-bats. and he was hitless so far in ’79: five ph appearances, five outs. i wasn’t at the game and so can’t describe the moment, but like brian says freed did it again: a grand slam and a 7-6 cardinal win.
it would be roger’s last moment of big-league glory; he got just 25 more at-bats that season, then called it a career. as to whether this game or the 8/22/77 game is the authentic "roger freed game," it appears they both qualify for the honor. the ’77 game was televised on abc’s "monday night baseball," and it seemed like every kid in my 8th-grade class either watched it on tv or was at the game but left early and missed the great rally; within my clique that was the "freed" game. but if you saw or listened to the ’79 game no doubt it would stay with you forever — and forever call roger freed's name to mind.
for a guy with just 717 career at-bats and 22 hr, freed made himself some decent memories. he only logged 206 at-bats as a cardinal — but two of them made indelible impressions on a generation of young cardinal fans.
way to go roger.
acknowledgments again to retrosheet — can’t thank those guys enough — and to brian gunn for deepening the memory with an excellent comment.
so informs brian gunn of hardball times and redbird nation fame. in a comment to my previous post, he writes:
"It's my understanding that this game -- in which Freed hit a two-out, extra-inning grand slam (on a 3-2 pitch, no less) -- is what is commonly known as 'the Roger Freed game.' Odd that one guy had two similar moments in one very brief career."
sure enough, it happened at busch against the astros on may 1 1979. silvio martinez squared off against jr richard and outpitched the sunuvagun, took a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning before tiring and losing the lead with two outs in the eighth. (check out the play-by-play at retrosheet and compare how ken boyer managed his bullpen in the 8th vs the way managers run games today. . . . .) the teams played into the 11th deadlocked 3-3; houston got to tom bruno for three in the top of the frame and entrusted the lead to joe sambito, he of the 1.23 era (he would finish the year at 1.77 with 22 saves). the cards didn’t exactly beat sambito to a pulp: tony scott legged out an infield hit, reitz fanned, then oberkfell walked, as did steve swisher (who’d entered the game on a double-switch). that turned over the lineup and brought up templeton, who entered the game hitting .302 but with only 3 rbis; he whiffed for the second out.
jerry mumphrey was due next, but boyer called him back and sent up freed. roger had finished the magical ’77 season at .398 but reverted to joe-lis form in ’78, batting just .239 in 92 at-bats. and he was hitless so far in ’79: five ph appearances, five outs. i wasn’t at the game and so can’t describe the moment, but like brian says freed did it again: a grand slam and a 7-6 cardinal win.
it would be roger’s last moment of big-league glory; he got just 25 more at-bats that season, then called it a career. as to whether this game or the 8/22/77 game is the authentic "roger freed game," it appears they both qualify for the honor. the ’77 game was televised on abc’s "monday night baseball," and it seemed like every kid in my 8th-grade class either watched it on tv or was at the game but left early and missed the great rally; within my clique that was the "freed" game. but if you saw or listened to the ’79 game no doubt it would stay with you forever — and forever call roger freed's name to mind.
for a guy with just 717 career at-bats and 22 hr, freed made himself some decent memories. he only logged 206 at-bats as a cardinal — but two of them made indelible impressions on a generation of young cardinal fans.
way to go roger.
acknowledgments again to retrosheet — can’t thank those guys enough — and to brian gunn for deepening the memory with an excellent comment.
posted by L Boros at 10:46 AM
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